At the main menu, press Up(2), Down(2), Left, Right, Left, Right, [Esc], [Enter] to unlock 1999 mode. Alternately, successfully complete the game. In 1999 mode, the game is more difficult. You must stick with the specialization you choose, and your actions will be ruled by that choice. Ammo is scarce, and health is more important. If you die, you must have the proper resources needed (like money) to revive, or the game will be over. The mode's name is a reference to System Shock 2, one of the precursors that inspired BioShock, which was released in 1999. Note: Enabling this code will unlock the "Should Auld Acquaintance..." achievement, and will not prevent other achievements from being unlocked.

Infinite money and lockpicks

In the "Return To The Hall Of Heroes" chapter (approximately two hours into the game), immediately after exiting the Hall Of Heroes and going down two sets of stairs, possess the Dollar Bill vending machine on the left side, and take the Silver Eagles. Then, go down another set of stairs, and use the right Sky-Line. Jump onto the platform on the right from the Sky-Line, and grab the lockpick on a wooden plank under the stairs. Next, attach to the Sky-Line again, then go down to the next Sky-Line below. Jump onto the platform at the bottom, and go into the nearby "Ticket" building to the left of the gondola station. Inside, there is a Dollar Bill vending machine, near a "Patriot's Pride Confections" sign, and three cash registers (two behind a door you must first use a lockpick on) that contain up to 40 Silver Eagles each. Finally, return to the Hall Of Heroes, and refill your salts (if needed) with the Salt machine (can be refilled unlimited times). Go back outside, and the Dollar Bill vending machines can be repossessed and the lockpick will have respawned. The cash registers will also have money in them again. Repeat this process as many times as desired. Note: If you kill the enemies in front of the Hall Of Heroes, they will not respawn, allowing you to keep farming without having to deal with the enemies. You should not need to collect more than 30 lockpicks. Use the gear that makes you 50% faster after jumping from a Sky-Line to make farming faster. There are also a lot of vending machines around the entrance to the Hall Of Heroes, allowing you to level up your magic and weapons.

Infinite gear

Pieces of gear are randomly dropped in special prize boxes located throughout Columbia. Normally, it will take most of the game to obtain a good amount of gear. However, there is an area earlier in the game where gear will respawn, allowing you to get every piece of random gear early and in one place. Load the "Return To The Hall Of Heroes" chapter (approximately two hours into the game), and you will appear outside the Hall Of Heroes where Founders and Vox are fighting. Directly behind the starting point are the doors into the Hall Of Heroes. Enter and exiting the Hall Of Heroes will cause any items in the Soldier's Field area to respawn. Go to the plaza, and defeat the Vox/Founders. Use the Sky-Lines to go down to the lower gondola station, and fight through the Founders and Fireman. Inside the entrance hall you will have to fight a Motorized Patriot. Stun the Motorized Patriot, and run to the elevator. Press the button, and you will return to the Soldier's Field boardwalk. Enter the toy store next to the carousel, and interact with the shutter to lift it up. Inside the store, use Shock Jockey on the generator near the locked door. The door will open, and you can collect a random piece of gear. Then, backtrack to the Hall Of Heroes by using the elevator, and riding the Sky-Line back up to the Hall Of Heroes plaza. Go up the stairs, and enter the Hall Of Heroes. Then, go down the hall, and refill any necessary salts. Exit the Hall Of Heroes, and repeat this process as many times as desired.

Easy money

Go to any vending machine, wait three minutes, then select an item from the vending machine you cannot afford. Back out of the vending machine, and Elizabeth will give you money. The amount of money will depend on your progress in the game. You will get more money towards the end of the game compared to the beginning. Repeat this as many times as desired.

All collectible locations

Search the indicated locations to find all 142 collectibles in the game (80 Voxophones, 25 Infusion Upgrades, 37 Telescopes and Kinetoscopes). Obtain all 142 collectibles to get the "Eavesdropper", "Infused With Greatness", and "Sightseer" achievements. Note: You can use chapter select to replay chapters after completing the game so you can pick up missing collectibles. However, there is no collectible counter per chapter/area, and every time you replay a chapter, the collectibles will respawn. Thus, there is no way to tell which ones you already found -- so try to obtain all collectibles in the correct order.

Chapters 2-10

Chapters 11-19

Chapters 22-31

Chapters 32-39

Vigor locations

Search the indicated locations to find all eight Vigors. Use all eight Vigors againist enemies to get the "Well Rounded" achievement.

Possession: Go to the Fair's exit, and get it from one of the stores to the left of the ticket vendor leading into Raffle Park.

Devil's Kiss: Loot it from a defeated Fireman Heavy-Hitter after the Raffle encounter.

Murder Of Crows: Defeat the hooded enemies in the chapel inside the Fraternal Order of the Raven building. It is located on the altar near the large George Washington mural.

Bucking Bronco: Go through the ticket station before reaching the pavilion leading to the gondola on your way to the Hall Of Heroes. It is located just as you leave the larger ticket chamber.

Shock Jockey: It is found on Slate in the Hall Of Heroes.

Charge: It is inside a small office behind a locked gate on the way to the Shantytown. The gate will be open on your way back to the Plaza Of Zeal after leaving the Police Impound.

Undertow: Check behind the desk in the Office of Jeremiah Fink before leaving through the exit.

Return To Sender: After leaving the Port, you will find a locked door that leads to the Salty Oyster Bar. You must activate a secret button that becomes selectable after you open the lock into Founder's Books and listen to the Voxophone recording about the button. Once the button is pressed, you can find the Vigor on a table inside the Salty Oyster Bar.

Vigor combos

The following Vigor combinations can be used. Use the following eight Vigor combinations at any time, against any type of enemy, to get the "Combination Shock" achievement. Note: If you restart checkpoints, your progress will be saved. Thus, keep restarting checkpoints if you are out of salts.

There are six total optional quests in the game. You will be rewarded with health, ammo, and infusion upgrades for completing the optional quests. You will also find several hidden Voxophones that reveal more of the city's backstory.

Comstock Center Rooftops

Chest 1: While traveling across the rooftops, you will eventually reach skylights. Shoot out the lights to jump down into the bedroom below, then take the stairs down to find a smaller bedroom in the Lansdowne Residence. There is a chest inside the bedroom, with a Voxophone nearby. The key to unlock the chest is inside the Fraternal Order Of The Raven. The key is on the main alter in the Fraternal Order Chapel. Take the key back to the Lansdowne Residence to unlock the chest.

Hall Of Heroes

Vox Code 1: There is a building with a cannon monument in Soldier's Field. In the muzzle of that cannon is a code book. Grab the book, and take it to the Fellow Traveler restaurant. There is a secret message scribbled in blood in there. Interact with it, and then use the hat hanging on the hook to enter the secret room.

Plaza Of Zeal

Vox Code 2: A code book can be found at the Good Time Club. Inside the club's boiler room are a couple of boxes, and the book is on top of them. There is a clock on the right side of the wall, which acts as the access to the secret room.

The Bull House Impound

Chest 2: In the Bull Yard Impound is a chest. The key to it is located in the Graveyard Shift's basement. If you missed it, take the Sky-Line outside to the Graveyard Shift bar to obtain it.

Secret Room Of Salty Oyster

Secret Room 1: There is a secret room in the Salty Oyster restaurant (Port Prosperity), but before you can access it, you have to locate the Founder's Bookstore after the Grand Central Depot. There is a bridge patrolled by snipers past the Grand Central Depot. Underneath the bridge is a doorway to the Founder's Bookstore. You will need a lockpick to open the locked door there. Grab the Voxophone, then go back to the Salty Oyster, and use the button under the cash register to open the secret room.

Bank Of The Prophet

Vox Code 3: In Downtown Emporia, there is a Hudson's clothing store with a gate that bars half the tunnel. Go inside, and grab the code book from the basement. Then, carry it with you until you enter the Bank Of The Prophet. When you are in the bank vaults, there is a room with blood scribbles of "HOARDER" just before encountering a bunch of snipers. The switch for the secret room is the typewriter.

Defeating Lady Comstock in 1999 mode

Use the following strategy to defeat Lady Comstock in 1999 mode without purchasing anything from a Dollar Bill vending machine so you can still get the "Scavenger Hunt" achievement.

Completing the final battle in 1999 mode

Use the following strategy to complete the final battle in 1999 mode.

1999 mode ending

Developer reference

Enter the cemetery where Lady Comstock's mausoleum is located. Search the gravestones to the left of the entrance to her grave. One of the graves has the handwritten word "SNIGHT" on it, which is a reference to Mike Snight, a member of the development team.

Easy "Heartbreaker" achievement

Upon entering the "New Workers Introduction Center" in "The Plaza Of Zeal" area, there will be a workshop to your left that contains a sniper rifle in the middle. Pick it up, but do not use it until you are attacked by the Handyman. The Handyman will attack after leaving the Gunsmith shop for the first time. Once he starts attacking you, run to the right corner of the map where the hooks are located. Then, use the hooks to get on the roof, then jump from the roof to the logs in the back corner. Next, shoot a couple rounds from the pistol to get the Handyman over to you. When he sees you, he will attack you. Crouch and move back and to the right. You should now be in the walls, and the Handyman should stop attacking. Aim at his heart, and shoot him with the sniper rifle. If he does not move when you shoot him, it means you are in the walls. Move up a tiny bit, and try again. Keep shooting him in the heart with the sniper rifle until he dies to get the "Heartbreaker" achievement.

You will encounter the first Handyman in "The Plaza Of Zeal" area, after leaving the Gunsmith shop for the first time. The heart of the Handyman is the orange glowing machine on his chest. In the same area where the Handyman spawns is a sniper rifle. Grab the sniper rifle, and wait until the Handyman stops for a moment. Sometimes he will stand still for a second to protect the heart with his hand, which is when you need to aim at the heart. As soon as he stops protecting the heart, immediately shoot it. You must do this six times in a row, without hitting any other body parts to get the "Heartbreaker" achievement. If you fail to get the achievement, simply restart the checkpoint to try again. Note: When attempting to do this, it is recommended you play on the Easy difficulty. Do not use any Vigors against the Handyman. All Vigors do a little bit of damage, which counts as hitting his entire body. Do not equip any piece of gear that automatically hurts attacking enemies.

Easy "Lost Weekend" achievement

There are just very few places in the game that offer enough alcohol to get drunk -- Shantytown is one of them. After you step out of the elevator (in the very beginning of the area), keep going straight until you reach a pub. Inside the pub is a lot of alcohol. Keep picking up alcohol until the screen gets blurry, and then shoot the people sitting at the table to get the "Lost Weekend" achievement. Note: All kill related achievements can be farmed by restarting the checkpoint. So if do not get five kills, you can try again, and your total kills will add up.

Steam achievements

Successfully complete the indicated task to unlock the corresponding achievement. To view your achievements and stats in Steam, select "Community", "My profile", "View all my games", then the game and view stats.